National_Geographic_Traveller_India_May_2017

Short Breaks | STAY
I,POD
IN A COMFORTABLE SPACE-AGE COCOON AT INDIA’S FIRST POD HOTEL | BY RUMELA BASU
The 124 Classic Pods at Mumbai’s
Urbanpod are cosy, compact,
and equipped with everything a
traveller might need for a night
in. The fact that they resemble
the props of a sci-fi film is only
an added advantage.
I
am an astronaut. Not really, but I feel
like one as I look into the circular mirror
inside my little pod-room in Mumbai’s
Urbanpod. I left my shoes in the shoe locker as
soon as I entered the hotel and now I’m crawling
into my bed inside a capsule-like pod. I sit there
taking in my cosy surroundings. There is a lot
of white, from the sheets and the pillow to the
interiors of the pod. The lights are a bluishwhite,
unlike the amber ones usually found in
hotel rooms. It gives an illusion of more space
and makes the pod look a little clinical. I touch
the tiny icon on the console-like set-up to my left
and the ceiling light flickers on. This console is
right below my mirror that looks like the peaceful
cousin of HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey’s
electronic antagonist. There are two USB ports,
a socket for plugging in my devices, another
for the headphones that are hanging on the far
left corner near my head, a digital clock, and
touch-operated controls for all the lights. Tucked
right under this edgy techie display is a small
Godrej locker.
The inner astronaut in me sighs wearily as I
settle back on the pillow and pick up my laptop.
Little blue LEDs along the panel indicate the
brightness of the lights around the mirror and on
the ceiling. I fiddle with it to let my pod be bathed
in a mellow bluish-white glow.
The little world created inside is in sharp contrast
with the one outside the hotel. Urbanpod’s
location—the busy area of SEEPZ Andheri, right
beside a bus depot—is as nondescript as can be.
Offices and shops line the bustling road in front
of the building where the hotel is housed. Only
after stepping off the elevator on the first floor
URBAN
`
POCKET-FRIENDLY
PHOTO COURTESY: URBANPOD
120 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2017